Nitty Gritty II

Since I am stranded in bed with no one else awake, I will continue with my detailed story!

I left off when I kissed J and was taken to the OR. With my first surgery, I arrived in the OR and it was bustling with action, there must have been 15 people in there, all of who ignored me!

This time, I arrived, and it was just the anesthesiologist, the room didn't look like it was ready either. She had me lie on the operating table and immediately gave me sedation, last time, the sedation immediately knocked me out, this time it just made me foggy. For some reason, I have some recollection of her inserting the the needle in my back, but it didn't hurt, I just felt pressure, and that was all I remember!

I woke up 3 hours later, to someone saying "its over"! I opened my eyes and said "is Dr.Kelly here?" "no", "they said, "he is speaking to your husband". Now remember, I am a control freak, despite the fact that I was sedated and had just woken up from surgery, and was still in the OR, I needed to know what he had done and what he had found. "Is his fellow here"? "yes" they answered. So I asked him what they did (he must have thought I was crazy...but I am, so that's ok!). I think he said something about shaving the acetabulum and the femur....but then I fell asleep again.

I woke up in the PACU, shaking like crazy. They plugged me back into the gown heater, and covered me with about 7 heated blankets, but I kept shaking. They explained that the OR was cold, they use cold IV fluids, I was exposed....so it all adds up to this crazy shaking. I then asked for my CPM (J says I'm a pain in the ass....being that I work in the health field, I know you need to speak up to be heard). It finally came, I was still shaking. That lasted about 2 hours (by this point, all the other 8am surgeries had gone home). I still could not move my feet and was picturing another lovely day wasted in the PACU.

A little while later, the nurse came to see how the anesthesia was wearing off, she said it was down to T10 since I had some feeling near the top of my leg/ bottom of my stomach. Then I had a burning sensation near (where I think) the incisions were, but really, awful burning. So I had her turn off the heater. She asked me if I wanted pain meds...YES, but I had to eat first. At this point, I did not want think about food, look at food, and much less eat food! My choices were tuna sandwich, turkey sandwich or cheese sandwich....under normal circumstances, I would not have gagged at this, "how about some crackers" I said.
So they sat me up, and I got REALLY dizzy and lightheaded, so they brought the bed down a little. A lovely volunteer brought me 10 crackers, what a joke! I ate 1/4 of one, and she said I had to eat more if I wanted the meds. She also brought me my all time favorite hospital drink, apple juice, this I drank!

Finally,I called the nurse, I NEED pain meds, so she brought me darvocet, but warned me to take them every 4 hours round the clock for the next few days because they are not that strong. I took 1, and it didn't make a dent in my pain, then I took another, 15 minutes later, I still had pain. It was so bad that I was on the verge of tears, I think she noticed and gave me a shot of dilaudid in my IV. A little later I had this again! The Dilaudid made me a little sleepy, but I really wanted to go home, and at this point, I REALLY had to pee, I had gone through one huge IV bag, and part of another, plus a cup of apple juice. I needed to go now!!
The only problem was that this required getting out of bed, into a wheelchair and then into the bathroom, and I still had pain, despite everything I had already taken. I also had no idea that the epidural catheter was still in my back, so this had to come out as well. It didn't hurt,other than when she had to remove all the tape it had been attached with, it felt like a bad waxing job!
I finally peed, and was taken to phase 2 of recovery. At this point, they disconnect your from your IV bag, but keep it in place, just in case you need more fluids, they help you get dressed and you have PT.

I had my own crutches from my first surgery, they are Millennial crutches, I highly recommend them, they are spring loaded and really comfortable on your hands. The PT in recovery tried them out and she really liked them as well. I stood up, she put on my lovely hip brace, and I walked with the crutches.I don't think I did a great job, but well enough to be sent home!